Category Archives: Interview

All of the songs from the Desire sessions are collaborations between Dylan (words and music) and Levy (words), with the exception of “Sara,” “Abandoned Love,” “One More Cup of Coffee,” and “Golden Loom,” all written by Dylan alone. It is of course uncharacteristic of Dylan to work with another writer-this marks only the first or second time he ever shared credit for the lyrics of a song, and still stands as his most extensive collaboration with another songwriter.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)

SongTalk: Your collaborations with Jacques Levy came out pretty great.
Bob Dylan: We both were pretty much lyricists. Yeah, very panoramic songs because, you know, after one of my lines, one of his lines would come out. Writing with Jacques wasn’t difficult. It was trying to just get it down. It just didn’t stop. Lyrically. Of course, my melodies are very simple anyway so they’re very easy to remember.
-From the Paul Zollo (SongTalk) interview with Bob Dylan – April 1991

This is a great interview from May 2004 uploaded to YouTube 2013. Sadly enough Levy passed away in September 2004.

Daniel Lanois (born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.

Lanois has released several albums of his own work. However, he is best known for producing albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Brandon Flowers. Lanois also collaborated with Brian Eno: most famously on producing several albums for U2, including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree. Three albums produced or co-produced by Lanois have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations.

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Scarlet Rivera is an American violinist who was plucked from obscurity to play a prominent role on both Bob Dylan’s ‘Desire’ album and his Rolling Thunder Revue tour. In this interview she discusses being discovered by Dylan, working with his co-writer at the time, Jacques Levy, recording ‘Desire’ and her experiences on the road with the Rolling Thunder band. Published on YouTube in 2013.

George Edward “G. E.” Smith (born January 27, 1952) is an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist in the band Hall & Oates and the musical director of Saturday Night Live. Smith was lead guitarist of Bob Dylan’s touring band from June 7, 1988, to October 19, 1990. Smith also served as musical director of The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden on October 16, 1992.

We found a very interesting new interview with Smith on YouTube, he is a good storyteller.